Katherine Tierney Leahy / World War II

The Connecticut Veterans History Project, an online archive at Central Connecticut State University, includes video interviews with 190 Connecticut veterans who served in U.S. conflicts including World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The CCSU Center for Public Policy and Research in New Britain is one of many archive partners nationwide in the Veterans History Project, created in 2000 when Congress voted to preserve the oral histories of U.S. veterans within wartime service and civilians who supported their efforts.

Katherine Leahy, 97, of Stafford Springs, treated wounded American soldiers at a hospital in Guam. Her patients were those who fought in the South Pacific, including the bloody Iwo Jima campaign. The goal was to stabilize the wounded so that they could be transported to hospitals back in America.

In her interview with Eileen Hurst, she particularly recalls a soldier from the South:

"I remember one Marine from Texas. His bed was in front of my desk and he was a handsome, big fella. Sorta reddish blond curly hair. And he was paralyzed from his chest down from a spinal injury.

"That was the unit I was in -- neurosurgical problems. They just did emergency work there. Get them ready to fly either to Hawaii or home, to California. So he was there. ...

"I remember one day a group of the fellas got around -- patients, too, who were ambulatory -- singing the 'Yellow Rose of Texas.'

"And he was singing with them."

She recalls another Marine:

"There was another fella who was injured... He was standing on the plane checking the propeller, and the propeller moved and it shaved off a section on his head. And he was unconscious, laying there several days. ...

"They'd had him to surgery. And one day, I saw his fingers tapping on the table in time to the music that was playing. ...

"The fellas used to sit and read his letters to him ... and never know if they were getting through to him or not.

"But when the fingers started tapping, that was wonderful."

To view full video interviews with veterans providing oral histories to the CCSU Veterans History Project, go to www.ccsu.edu/vhp.

If you are a veteran interested in sharing your story, or would like to volunteer to conduct interviews, contact project director Eileen Hurst at 860-832-2796 or hursteim@ccsu.edu.